The present invention relates generally to the field of telecommunications and, more particularly, to systems methods, and apparatuses for maintaining services within a telecommunications network having separate service providers and network providers.
Today all the subscribers are provided the same applications, if they have the same network provider. Usually the applications are coded in the switch itself so that the user of the network is limited to those services which the switch has available. It is anticipated that information retrieval, electronic commerce as well as the provisioning or management of services will increase in such a degree that the handling of signaling, data, call setup and routing of a call will become very complicated. A need for service mobility will become extremely important.
The present invention provides a computer program embodied on a computer readable medium. The computer may include a code segment for storing user service information. The computer program may also include a code segment for communicating with a mobile switching station and remote service providers. The computer program may further include a code segment for accessing services from remote service providers. The computer program may also include a code segment for routing the services to a communications device.
The present invention also provides a method of maintaining services within a telecommunications network having separate service providers and network providers. The method may include the steps transmitting a computer program to a mobile switching station with the computer program having user service information, executing the computer program at the mobile switching station, retrieving services from remote service providers based upon the user service information, and delivering the services to a communications device.
The present invention further provides a system for maintaining services within a telecommunications network having separate service providers and network providers. The system may include a database to store user information, a computer program resident in the database with the computer program containing user service information, and a mobile switching station in communication with the database.